Free Republic

The U.S. House has passed legislation barring all noncitizens, except permanent residents from acquiring Small Business Administration loans. The American Entrepreneurs First Act of 2025, which passed in a 217-190 vote Friday, would require the SBA to verify the citizenship status and age of every applicant, codifying reforms recently implemented by the agency. If the bill passes the Senate and becomes law, the SBA will permanently exclude illegal immigrants, refugees and asylees, visa holders, DACA recipients or nonimmigrants from obtaining taxpayer-funded SBA loans. It would also disqualify companies partially or completely owned by such individuals. Co-sponsor of the bill, Rep....

Here's NewsNation's Brian Entin reporting on an anonymous USDA whistleblower who is exposing the Biden regime's racism. Brian Entin @BrianEntin I met with a USDA whistleblower. He says the Biden administration forgave farm loans for only non-white farmers and when they were told it was illegal, continued to secretly do it. Kept it "hushed for the obvious implications of race based loan forgivingness." Full story: VIDEO AT LINK............. "It was to pay off anyone who wasn't a white male's loan. That was the only qualification for this loan forgiveness." That's all that it took to be qualified?? "They were trying...

Energy Secretary Chris Wright hinted that he would soon take action canceling billions of dollars' worth of Biden-era green energy loans that he said do not promote American energy security and are too risky for taxpayers. In an exclusive interview with the Washington Free Beacon, Wright took aim at how the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office dished out billions of dollars in loans during the final months of the Biden administration. While Wright stopped short of naming particular projects he may cancel loans for, he said the Trump administration would only look to support projects that directly benefit Americans...

It’s no secret Joe Biden’s team spent its final days shoveling money out the door, and in ways designed to limit Donald Trump’s ability to claw it back. Officials working under Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright have now completed a review of the Loan Programs Office (LPO)—the government entity that brought you Solyndra— and the extent of the shenanigans is remarkable. Figures and documents provided to me show a loan free-for-all: More than $90 billion showered on entities in a matter of months, a lot of it to companies of questionable taxpayer value. The highlights of DOE’s review: Unprecedented...

The U.S. government will begin seizing federal benefits from 195,000 student loan defaulters in June, with wage garnishment notices set to reach 5.3 million borrowers later this summer, the Education Department announced on May 5, marking the formal restart of involuntary collections after a years-long pause. The renewed enforcement effort begins with the Treasury Offset Program, which allows the federal government to intercept tax refunds, Social Security checks, and other federal payments to recover unpaid student debt. Borrowers affected by the program began receiving notices on May 5, the department said. “Starting today, approximately 195,000 defaulted student loan borrowers will...

The U.S. Department of Education is set to restart collection efforts on defaulted student loans on Monday — putting millions of borrowers at risk of wage garnishment and other consequences. The federal government has extraordinary collection powers on its student loans and it can seize borrowers’ tax refunds, paychecks and Social Security retirement and disability benefits.More than 42 million Americans hold student loans, and collectively, outstanding federal education debt exceeds $1.6 trillion. More than 5 million borrowers are currently in default, and that total could swell to roughly 10 million borrowers within a few months, according to the Trump administration.The...

The Department of Education is poised to resume collections on defaulted federal student loans in May for the first time since 2020. While the first Trump administration paused referring federal student loans to collections in March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the extended lapse has prompted Trump administration officials to worry that the federal student loan portfolio is "headed toward a fiscal cliff if we don't start repayment in collections," according to a senior department official. "The result has been that the federal government student loan portfolio has continued to grow, and we've got a record number...

Barack Obama’s Ivanpah Solar Electric Power Plant has officially failed and will begin shutting gone operations early 2026.. - $1.6 BILLION in federal loans. - $535 MILLION grant. - $600 MILLION tax credit. - MASSIVE investor write-offs.. A SCAM paid for by US Taxpayers for NOTHING ... Obamala himself is not bankrupt. Indeed, he remains awash in undrowned private chefs. Never leave your wallet unattended in the presence of Democrats. ... His first scam was Solyndra. ... Ivanpah: $2.7B to boil birds in the desert. California Bullet Train: $100B to almost connect two places no one’s trying to go. One...

The husband of former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) allegedly bilked taxpayers out of more than $20,000 in a COVID loan scheme and used the money for his “personal benefit and enjoyment,” according to the DC US Attorney’s Office. Cortney Merritts, 46, was charged in a federal indictment Thursday with two counts of wire fraud related to allegedly fraudulent applications he filed with the Small Business Administration in 2020 and 2021 that allowed him to collect – and never repay – government funds from the pandemic-era Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Merritts received an $8,500...

Millions of Americans believed that their student loans would be forgiven per the promises made under Biden Administration. Then there was a period of student loan forgiveness that began during the COVID era when countless people found themselves unemployed. Payments have resumed but 9.2 million (43% of federal loan borrowers) have fallen over 90 days behind on payments. Instead of forgiveness, these delinquencies will remain on these borrower’s credit reports for seven years. Delinquencies show on all three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) through nationwide credit reporting agencies (NCRAs). The result is an immediate drop in credit scores...

Remember when Democrats insisted that they needed unlimited COVID relief funds to help “struggling Americans?” Well, guess what — millions of those dollars went to elementary school “business owners” and people who would've been alive during the Civil War. You can't make this stuff up. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) just dropped a bombshell that exposes the mind-boggling incompetence of Biden's administration. It has uncovered nearly $2 billion in "misplaced" funds at HUD, but that's just the appetizer in this feast of government waste. Here's the shocking truth: During 2020-2021, the Small Business Administration handed out 5,593 loans totaling...

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced has the agency has identified more than $300 million in COVID-era loans were granted to children. According to DOGE, they have identified that the Small Business Administration (SBA) granted almost 5,600 loans between 2020 and 2021 for $312 million to borrowers where, at the time of the loan, the listed owner was 11 years old or younger. DOGE shared on X, “In 2020-2021, SBA granted 5,593 loans for $312M to borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time of the loan.” “While it is possible to have...

In one case, a 157 years old individual received $36k in loans.

Zelensky denies owing $100B (or the $500B Trump claimed), saying all aid was grants. But is that true? Let’s break it down. Lend-lease and military aid Biden signed a lend-lease law in May 2022, like in WWII. But it was never used and expired in Sept 2023; instead, the US gave weapons for free, per Ukrainian media. ⚔️ Grants, not loans? Since Feb 2022, the US approved $175B for Ukraine’s war effort: ✅ $120B went directly to Ukraine as grants, as per CSIS 🎁 ✅ $55B went to US industries, Pentagon and global aid groups 🏭 But what about loans?...

As Joe Biden’s presidency ends, it’s clear his record makes him the most aggressive president in history on student-loan forgiveness. His Department of Education * extended the COVID-19 interest-accumulation freeze; * introduced the new SAVE plan, which offered unprecedented interest forgiveness; * began the process of blanket forgiveness of up to $20,000 for borrowers. The second and third initiatives were so aggressive that the judicial branch ultimately blocked them. And, although student-loan forgiveness was not the headline of every speech by Vice President Kamala Harris, it was clear to voters that Democrats were the way forward for removing student debt....

They’re catching up to the people that abused the PPP loans in 2020 https://x.com/i/status/1891225784515215843

That relief includes nearly 85,000 people who attended schools that “cheated and defrauded their students,” 61,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability and another 6,100 public service workers, Biden said in a statement.

The Auberge du Soleil, a five-star hillside hotel and spa with a panoramic view overlooking the vineyards of Napa Valley, appears to be first-rate in all ways but one. While the glamorous resort, an hour’s drive from San Francisco, fills rooms that routinely go for $2,000 a night with A-list celebrities and tech titans, financial records suggest it did not provide much of a return to at least two of its investors – Rep. Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul. That changed when it received millions in congressionally authorized COVID-19 relief in 2020 and 2021. he Auberge du Soleil investment,...

The United States confirmed Tuesday it has granted $20 billion in funds for Ukraine backed by proceeds earned on frozen Russian assets. The cash is part of a $50 billion G7 support package and comes 40 days before President Joe Biden departs the White House. The loan funds come at a crucial juncture for Kyiv as President-elect Donald Trump has already indicated he wants an immediate settlement between the two combatants rather than helping fund a never ending war, as Breitbart News reported. Trump has increasingly questioned the level of financial support given to Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion, saying...

One day after Democrats fumed about his absence on the world stage and from his own administration, retiring President Biden has announced he will roll out even “more student debt cancellation,” work to “achieve a ceasefire in Gaza with the hostages released” and send further military assistance to Ukraine, according to an internal White House memo. The memo from Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients, which was addressed to all White House staff, outlined the 46th president’s foreign and domestic priorities for his remaining 42-day “sprint” before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office, a copy of the memo obtained by The...